LIV Golf Events to Receive OWGR World Ranking Points After 'Exhaustive' Process, PGA Tour Responds

LIV Golf events will impact world golf rankings for the first time in 2026.

Top-10 finishers in LIV Golf events will be able to receive rankings points starting this season, the Official World Golf Ranking board announced Tuesday.

No LIV Golf competitors who finish 11th or below in an event will receive rankings points, according to the OWGR.

That means about 17.5 percent of the average LIV Golf field will receive OWGR points, compared to the 53 percent of PGA Tour players who will receive rankings points this week, per Golf Monthly's Elliott Heath.

Players who receive points through LIV Golf tournaments will also receive less than they would for a PGA Tour win based on OWGR's "small tournament fields" classification.

The player who wins this week's LIV Golf tournament in Riyadh is expected to receive about 23 world rankings points, according to OWGR. In contrast, Justin Rose gained 56.9 OWGR points by winning last week's Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

The OWGR said in a statement the decision was the result of "an exhaustive and collaborative process" which found "there are a number of areas where LIV does not meet the eligibility standards set out by OWGR."

LIV Golf expressed frustration with OWGR's decision not to award ranking points to players below the 10th-place cut in a Tuesday statement.

"This outcome is unprecedented. Under these rules, a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th," LIV Golf wrote.

LIV Golf continued, "No other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction. We expect this is merely a first step... We entered this process in good faith and will continue to advocate for a ranking system that reflects performance over affiliation."

The PGA Tour said in its own statement that the organization respects OWGR's decision.

LIV Golf first applied for OWGR accreditation in July 2022. That first application was rejected in October 2023.

The OWGR said at the time that LIV Golf's "mostly closed" format, in which many players are invited to compete rather than earning a spot through tournament results, did not make it "equitable" with other ranked leagues players could compete to participate in.

The Saudi Arabia-backed tour has since made changes including expanding games to 72 holes and introducing new competitive thresholds in what LIV Golf described as an effort to "increase the turnover and meritocratic pathways into the League."

The OWGR said in its Tuesday statement that LIV Golf still fell short of multiple organizational standards.

These included LIV Golf's average field size of 57 players in 2026, as opposed to an OWGR minimum of 75, as well as the running of no-cut events, according to the organization.

The OWGR additionally described "restrictive pathways to join LIV Golf," including some set tournament spots from closed events which OWGR wrote "does not offset the turnover of players exiting the league."

The organization also cited LIV Golf adding and removing players "based on their nationality rather than for meritocratic reasons." Six of LIV Golf's 13 teams feature four players all born in the same country, per the AP's Doug Ferguson.

The OWGR acknowledged that LIV Golf is planning to make further changes ahead of the 2027 season and concluded the organization would "will continue to evaluate LIV Golf against OWGR's eligibility standards."